What is the origin of pulses?

Pulses have been the base food of humans for millenia and together with the evolution of man have marked the way ahead. But, Who harvested pulses first? What were the origins of pulses?

Pulses have been harvested by many cultures depending on the species for centuries. There are different origins such as those from Mesopotamia, Pre colombian America and East Asia. They seem to have been basic foods of peoples since neolithic times. As soon as man began to harvest the land and started agricultural practices as a complementary way to their typical hunting and gathering expertise.

Although some historians talk about ancient times and go about dating it in the 20 thousand year harvesting period, what is true is that in the Near East, there was a clear association between cereal seeds such as wheats and barley together with pulses like lentils, green peas for instance, and the chickpea crops, which date back to 6 thousand years.

In Spain, from the middle ages until now, pulses have been our food companion at home, it does not matter whether be the poor or the rich, both have included pulses in their home meals. Popular Spanish dishes like broths, lentil soups or stews have been part of our traditional culinary culture and take hundreds if not thousands of pages in the volumes of Spanish literature.

2016 has been announced as the International Year of Pulses by the United Nations. The objective to be accomplished here is to raise awareness of the important role of pulses as safe, nutritious, healthy and easy food and environmentally friendly to grow. Seeds of Knowledge are reports about the importance of pulses in Galicia.